OGE (Office of Government Ethics) in the United States has mandated that all federal employees report their various crypto or virtual currency holdings. This mandate comes from a guidance that was released on the 18th of June 2018 by the OGE. This newly issued guidance will affect about 2 million federal employees, including also the Veteran Affairs, the Army, the Justice Department, Homeland security and a long list of others. According to the guidance issued, the OGE clearly stated that it does not regard these virtual currencies as legal tenders or as real currencies. The guidance referred to tokens and coins that were gotten from various ICO projects or that is issued as well.
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The guidance issued clearly stated that all filers should report the amount in virtual currencies they have in their possession, it went further to state that if the total virtual currency held at the end of the filing of the report exceeds the $1,000 mark, and also that if the income made from holding the currency exceeds the $200 mark, then the filer would be required by the OGE to identify the virtual currency. It further noted that if the virtual currency is held in an exchange or any platform, that the exchange or the platform should also be identified as well.
This guidance released by the OGE has been deemed fit and this is as a result of the development and surge in the interest in these virtual currencies. Also, most of these federal employees' that have shown interest in these virtual currencies would have to seek guidance from the ethics officials. All federal employees are requested to submit their transaction reports of some investment assets which includes different virtual currencies and securities. The guidance clearly stated that the report would depend solely on whether the virtual currency or asset is classed as a security. As mentioned earlier, if the transaction of these virtual currencies exceeds the set $1,000 mark, then it would have to be reported to the OGE
The guidance went further to state that virtual currencies are investment assets and at that, they may create a conflict of interest for all who own it. The guidance further revealed that the OGE in the future will issue certain guidance if these virtual currencies have been clearly defined by then.
Though we do not know what the OGE has in mind concerning this virtual currency report, we hope it would not be as severe as that of South Korea where the government outrightly banned all officials from trading and holding these virtual currencies. This move by South Korea is the first time the government is banning the trading as well as holding of cryptocurrencies for all public officials. Those holding and trading these virtual currencies would be violating the forbearance obligation that is clearly stipulated in the Civil Servant Law.
We can only wait to find out the outcome of this report requested by the OGE.